South Korean Bestseller 'Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982' Gives Public Voice To Private Pain
A slim book about an everyday woman's life in South Korea became a runaway bestseller (and a movie), tapping into a growing feminism in this punishingly patriarchal country. It's now out in English.
Across South Korea, a slim novel called Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, by Cho Nam-Joo, became a cultural sensation when it came out, selling more than a million copies. Nearly four years after debuting in its native country — and months after the film adaptation hit theaters, the book is now available in English.
The story itself doesn't sound like it would be the stuff of a meteoric bestseller. In it, protagonist Kim Jiyoung, an ordinary woman in her mid-30s, recounts the beats of her
